Hurricane Sandy hits New York City in 2012

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS|

Oct 29, 2015 | 2:27 PM

In the Pennyfield section of the Bronx right near the Throgs Neck Bridge Paul Lupo and Sandra Espolito take the brunt of the storm as it hits the seawall here right off Pennyfield Road. (Richard Harbus/for New York Daily News)

(Originally published by the Daily News on October 30, 2012. This story was written by Matt Lysiak, Kerry Burke, Corky Siemaszko, and Tracy Connor.)

Hurricane Sandy gave a terrifying preview of its fury Monday, knocking over a high-rise crane in the heart of Manhattan hours before the storm was even slated to make landfall.

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The massive shaft of the 850-foot crane swayed in the air some 70 stories over W. 57th St. —triggering a huge emergency response even as the city braced for historic flooding and power outages from an expected 11-foot storm surge.

Buildings near the unfinished condo skyscraper were being evacuated, but emergency workers said high winds would prevent them from securing the crane, which was plagued by problem seven before the storm.

Food vendor Tony Twitty, 40, said he saw the machinery snap at 2:30 p.m. "The crane was waving in the wind," he said. "The neck started to break up. You could hear the crunching of metal.

"It's gonna come down," he said. "It's definitely gonna come down."

There were no injuries in the collapse at One57, a dizzying tower that will be 90 stories tall and boast a $90 million penthouse duplex.

The mishap was the most dramatic sign of Sandy's power as the storm churned up the East Coast—but not the only one.

Streets were flooded and tens of thousands had no electricity. The major bridges were closed.

And all that before Sandy was expected to roar ashore in northern New Jersey.

"The worst of the storm has not yet hit us," Gov. Cuomo said at an afternoon briefing, surrounded by National Guard troops while the power flickered on and off.

As night approached, it was still unclear how much damage Mother Nature's monster would ultimately inflict on a city paralyzed for two days.

But things will not even start getting back to normal until Wednesday at the earliest, with schools, subways and the financial markets closed for a second day on Tuesday.

With 50 million Americans in Sandy's perilous path and the potential for $20 billion worth of damage, even the presidential campaign was curtailed.

"The public should anticipate that there's going to be a lot of power outages, and it may take time for that power to get back on," President Obama said.

"The same is true with transportation. There are going to be a lot of backlogs.

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"Even after the storm has cleared, it's going to take a considerable amount of time for airlines, subways, trains . . . to get back on schedule."

The late-season Atlantic hurricane was scheduled to slam into the coast at high tide under a full moon and collide with two winter weather systems to form an epic super-cyclone dubbed "Frankenstorm."

Sandy was a lowly Category 1 'cane but its breadth dwarfed last year's Irene — and officials were bracing for 90 mph winds, torrential rain, even heavy snow.

In New York City, an expected Monday night storm surge was the biggest threat — a wall of water up to 11 feet poised to breach seawalls and swamp streets and homes.

That would be even higher than Hurricane Donna in 1960, which left a river roiling lower Manhattan.

"Do not underestimate this storm. . . . They are talking about surges we have not seen before," Cuomo said at a briefing.

He said the state was as prepared as it could be, with 2,000 National Guardsmen called up to assist in the recovery, and 4,000 utility workers from other states on standby to help.

Mayor Bloomberg said the crisis would linger at least a day. High-wind warnings were in effect through 6 p.m. Tuesday, and there was a coastal flood warning until p.m.

"Water levels along our coast and in our waterways have begun rising and are expected to remain at higher-than-normal levels for the next 24 hours," Bloomberg said around noon Monday.

As he spoke, Sandy was speeding up and and emergency workers were prepping for a history making hell:

Major road closures were under way, with the promise of more to come, depending on the extent of flooding.

The Holland Tunnel and the Battery Tunnel were shut down at 2 p.m. The Tappan Zee Bridge was closed at 4p.m.

The East River crossings — the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges — were closed to traffic at 7 p.m. The Throgs Neck, Verrazano, Whitestone, Henry Hudson, Marine Parkway, Crossbay-Veterans and George Washington bridges were also ordered shut at 7p.m.

The Lincoln and Midtown tunnels, and the Triborough/RFK Bridge were to stay open — if deemed safe.

Most of the FDR Drive was blocked Monday afternoon after water crashed over the seawall, and there was no traffic on the Bronx River Parkway.

City officials warned they could start shutting East River bridges if the winds got above 60 mph.

All public transportation was suspended — and officials said city buses and subways would likely not be running until Wednesday.

Even if flooding is limited, it would still take eight to 12 hours to get the nation's largest system up and running.

And if the stations and tunnels are deluged, the MTA estimates it could take anywhere between 14 hours and four days just to pump out all the water.

Only then could the MTA then start inspecting, repairing or replacing signals, switches and other equipment.

Bloomberg announced that city schools would remain closed Tuesday since there would be no way for people to get to them.

The U.S. financial markets were also shuttered for a second day. It was the first time in 124

years that the New York Stock Exchange was closed for two consecutive days due to weather.

By 3 p.m., there were scattered reports of damage no deaths.

An elderly man was critically injured when he was hit by a street sign that blew off a pole near Third Ave. and107th St. in East Harlem, officials said.

In Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a 56-year-old woman was knocked unconscious after being smacked by a falling tree branch. She was released from Bellevue Hospital with six staples in her head.

In Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, one tree smashed into a garage on Colonial Road and another smashed into a house on Bay Ridge Parkway.

"I heard a big crashing boom. It sounded like an explosion. It was pretty freaky," said Justin D'Amico, 42, whose home was hit.

"I opened the door and everything was crashing on me. It was terrifying."

By early evening — even before the biggest gusts—more than 69,000 ConEdison customers were without power, most of them in Queens and on Staten Island, a source said.

Con Edison could not rule out cutting power in flooded areas south of 34th St. to protect equipment that would be damaged by salt water.

The area most at risk of losing power was the southeastern portion of lower Manhattan — south of Wall St. and east of Broadway — Con Edison spokesman Alfonso Quiroz said.

In the suburbs, the situation was also severe— with more than 100,000 people on Long Island without power and 8,500 in Westchester.

From the Belt Parkway to the streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn, there was flooding 12 hours before Sandy's landfall target.

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"This could be the storm of a lifetime," said Javier Priegue, 37, who rode his bike from downtown Brooklyn to take a look.

"I think it's probably a good idea to get out of here in the next few hours."

In Freeport, L.I., many streets were 3 feet underwater at 10 a.m.

David Anderson, 64, floated down his street in a kayak along with his 8-month-old chocolate Lab, Sadie Potaty. "I'm going to the store to get some beers," he said.

Freeport firefighters ran through 2 feet of water to reach a burning home on Branch Ave. and struggled to hook up to a fire hydrant.

"I called 911 but I couldn't get through," said witness Greg Watson, who called the police department directly to summon help.

South of New York, Sandy gave a scary preview of her wrath. A section of the Atlantic City

A section of the Atlantic City Boardwalk washed away, and a pier in Maryland splintered. A historic replica tall ship took on water and sank off North Carolina, forcing a daring Coast Guard helicopter rescue of 14 crew members bobbing on the sea in lifeboats.

Nationwide, nearly 10,000 flights were grounded — almost 3,000 of them at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark.

With hotels booked up, local airports became campgrounds for the stranded.

"I don't know where we are going to sleep tonight," Nadine Flips of Belgium, on vacation here with her family, said from JFK.

Evacuation orders were in effect for 375,000 people in low-lying neighborhoods across the city, though many didn't heed them.

Only 3,100 people, and 73 dogs,had taken up residence in 76 city public-school shelters by midday Monday.

Jack Green, 36,who lives in the Hammel Houses in Rockaway Beach, refused to leave even though he had no elevator service.

"I've lived out here all my life. Why should we be running now?" he said. "I believe God's going to take care of all of us. He's going to protect the 'hood."

The presidential candidates canceled a raft of campaign events for Tuesday and Wednesday — Obama in Florida and Wisconsin and Mitt Romney in Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin.

"The election will take care of itself next week," the President said.

Public officials did not mince words in warning people to get out of flood zones or to stay inside everywhere else.

"Don't be fooled, don't look out the window and say, it doesn't look so bad. The worst is still coming," Cuomo said.

In New York, the runup to the storm was reminiscent of preparations for Hurricane Irene, which ended up walloping upstate while going easier on the city.

But by Monday morning, even cynical New Yorkers conceded that Sandy — which had strengthened overnight — would eclipse Irene.

"I should have done this last night but I kept thinking it was all going to blow over," said Rosa Castro, 48, buying water and cat food at a bodega in Bath Beach, Brooklyn.

"But now I'm scared. To be honest with you, I'm real freaked out."

Of course, there were pockets of defiance.

Police made one storm-related arrest — slapping handcuffs on a man who refused to leave the Times Square subway station after the transit system shutdown.

"A number of people were required to leave," said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD's top spokesman. "One person fought with police."

On the Carroll St. bridge over Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal, a model named Palesaent posed in nothing but a nude-colored sheath as photographer Aeric Meredith-Goujon, 43, snapped away amid the wind and rain.

"I'm always attracted to extreme situations and here we have an extreme one," said the lensman.

"She's looking very vulnerable but also very powerful."

Daredevils also flocked to Coney Island to gawk at the whipped-upsurf.

"Come and get me, Sandy," taunted Don Waddell, 43, who lives in the evacuation zone. "I'm not going anywhere. I just don't buy the hype."